Always There For You
by MagnusPr1m3
Summary: Al and Jake never thought they'd end up fighting for their lives in a zombie apocalypse. And after all that has happened, they know they are wrong about ever wanting one. Now, without any of their family left, all they have is each other.
1. Chapter 1

_**Part 1: Turning**_

_Chapter 1_

"Al, come on! We have to keep moving!" Fifteen year old Jake Harris called back to his brother, Alex. He tossed a quick glance down the alleyway to see his little brother limping slightly, and sweat causing his blond hair to cling to his forehead. The young boy winced every step or two, gritting his teeth and slamming his cerulean eyes shut in pain. "Al, what's wrong?" Jake inquired as he stopped near the end of the alleyway.

"I-I think I may have twisted my ankle," Alex forced out trough his clenched teeth as he stopped to lean against one of the alleyways dirty brick walls. "Are we almost there, Jake?"

The older of the two, a boy with gray eyes and brown hair that never liked to stay neat, nodded, hoping that his nod was indeed warranted. Truth be told, Jake had no idea when they would actually reach the place they were supposed to meet their parents at. He just didn't want to worry his younger brother. "We'll be there soon, Al. Do you want me to carry you the rest of the way?" He took a few steps towards the ten year old, only to freeze when he shook his head no. "Why not?"

"Because then you can't hold your bat." The boy answered simply, preparing to inch his way down the alleyway without putting too much pressure on his right leg. "Then we really will be in the hole."

Jake let out a laugh, the first either of them had uttered in days. "Alex, don't be stupid. You can just hold onto my back, and I will tote you along. Like how I use to give you piggy back rides when we were littler." Jake walked over and kneeled with his back to his brother, motioning for Alex to climb on. "That way, you can still shoot the pistol and if I need to I can still smack the fuckers away!"

"Jake!" Alex yelled indignantly, warranting a shush from his brother.

"Just climb on! It doesn't matter anymore if I say those kinds of things. There is no reason for us to worry about what we say! Our biggest worry is whether we can make it to Mum and Dad or not!" Jake hissed as his brother climbed onto his back timidly, feeling rather much like a child the way Jake had just scolded him.

"We'll make it to them, don't worry, Jake." Alex muttered reassuringly into his brother's ear as Jake began to stand and walk down the alleyway.

"I'm not worrying." Jake grumbled, contradicting how he actually felt. He felt nothing but guilt for what had happened as he trudged along, swapping stories with his brother. It was all his fault. Or, so he thought. If he had just stayed with his parents and Al the whole time, they would not have been separated by that horde. If Alex had not tried to come back and help him, Jake would have probably been the only one separated. But, a bunch of 'if's were not going to be any help to them.

"Jake, are you okay?" Alex's voice interrupted his brother's thoughts, pushing aside the 'if's as they trudged across a street to yet another alleyway.

"Yeah, yeah. Finish your story, Al." Jake urged, trying to ignore the weight of the younger boy on his back.

"Okay." Alex whispered somberly before continuing the story. "Well, then Brian decided that it'd be funny to..."

And on trudged the two boys towards a destination unknown by both. But, it didn't matter. They still had hope, and each other, and that was all that either of them cared about.

* * *

><p>"Jake! Look out!" Alex yelled, shooting at an Infected person behind them. He clung tightly to his brother with one arm while trying to keep look out behind.<p>

"Tryin' to focus on what's in front!" Jake grumbled, gripping his brother's legs with one arm and wielding the bat with another. He focused on the Infected before them, about five of them at the moment, and all common Infected, thankfully. "You get the back, I've got the rest!"

"Got i- Ah!" Alex cried out as a slimy, muscly appendage wrapped itself around the two boys and began dragging them back.

Jake wriggles viciously against it, trying to get at least one of them free. "Al- shoot- it! Shoot the- damn thing!" He commanded as he tried desperately to loosen the tongue that was dragging them back.

"I- I can't! I dropped the pistol!" Alex whined against his brother's back as he, too, began to wiggle insanely.

Damn it, Jake couldn't help but think. As a last attempt to free them of the deadly grasp that was dragging them ever closer to a Smoker, Jake wedged the baseball bat up between the tongue and his arm, and pushed it outward. "Al, run!" Jake ordered as his brother slipped out of the hold. He dropped the bat as the muscle tightened its grasp on the now alone victim and it began to pull him back even faster. "Run!" He managed to get that last command out before feeling the claws begin to drag along him, and teeth sink into his shoulder. He cried out in anguish as he try to force the claws, teeth, and tongue away from his weakening body.

"Jake!" Alex screamed for his brother as he stared transfixed at the going ons before him. He couldn't move, he was frozen to the very bloody concrete floor beneath him as a few common Infected charged towards his strangled brother.

"Run, goddamn it!" Jake choked out, trying to stifle the cries of pain that begged to escape him. He kicked one of his feet out at an Infected that tried to claw into him. Yet, he couldn't keep them all at bay.

Jake could just barely remember seeing Alex shakily grip the gun and pointing it in his general direction just before a loud bang sounded and his world was engulfed in the black.

Alex sat there and stared at the motionless body before him, his hand still gripping the gun. The Infecteds' attention was now on him, and they all quickly began to run over. The blond boy hurriedly tossed aside the pistol and picked up his brother's baseball bat from where it had fallen from Jake's grasp and swung, not really paying attention to what he was swinging at. His mind was to focused on what he had just done. He kept replaying the whole thing in his mind: the confliction that ran through him as Jake ordered him to run, his shaking hand reaching for the gun on the ground, turning, aiming, and then firing.

He didn't notice when all of the zombies were finally dead. It wasn't until he dropped the bat and collapsed to the cold, concrete ground that he finally realize that whole ordeal was over. He simply lay there for a moment, shaking as sobs racked through his scrawny form. He bit back a cry of pure anguish as he looked up to see his brother lying motionless on top of the Smoker's corpse.

"Oh god... Jake..." Alex crawled over towards his brother, his eyes leaking immense amounts of tears. "Jake, come on... Wake up... Jake..." He reached out and lightly shook Jake, trying to get a response from him. He gave another shake before he cried out and buried his head into his older brother's shirt, crying into the blood-caked fabric as he slowly drifted off to sleep. "Jake..."

* * *

><p>Mags: Two ways to tell this is Kevyns'-<p>

Kevyn: I will strangle-

Mags: One. It is very pessimistic!

Kevyn: **_HEY! SO ARE SOME OF YOUR'S!_**

Mags:Two. It is written in past tense.

Kevyn:... I am not offended by that. Anyways, I hope you guys like **my** story. It is written in a _slightly_ style than my twin's stories. So, if you don't like her style, then welcome to the dark side! Here is a cookie!

Mags: -.- I resent that.

Kevyn: Please review if you liked it! Or if there is some grammatical error I missed!


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**  
><em>

_"Hey, over here!" The little blond girl scampered towards a rather large bush at the edge of the woods surrounding the small yard, two older boys following her. "He ran over here!" She kept motioning to the bush, looking for something in the eyes of her older brothers._

_"Abby, I don't think that Rocket would have gone in the woods; he is a house cat, he doesn't like the woods," The older of the two boys, a brunet with startling gray eyes, tried to explain this fact to the five year old girl before him with little success._

_"Jake is right, Abs, Rocket wouldn't like the woods." Her other brother, a blond with beautiful cerulean eyes and fair complexion just like her's, added in hopes of assisting his older sibling. "He is probably just hiding in the attic again."_

_Their little sister stomped her foot in frustration, "No! Rocket ran into this bush, he was hissing and spitting and looked like you guys had gotten into your Halloween costumes again! And, he hasn't come out!"_

_Jake sighed, rubbing his forehead before looking the girl in the eye and asking, "Do you want us to help you find him?"_

_"Yes!" Abby jumped up excitedly and charged into the woods, leaving her brothers slightly confused and forced to follow her._

_"Abby, slow down!" Alex called, charging after her. Jake shook his head before following as well, calling out quickly to his brother. "Keep an eye on Abby, Al!"_

_"Got i-"_

_"AAHHH!" The scream caused both boys to freeze, listening to more screams and rustling before charging towards the noises. They did not have to run very far before they burst into a clearing, where they saw something that startled them both._

_Hunched over their squirming sister was their next door neighbor, old mister Johnson. Except, something was quite obviously wrong with him. One, his skin was pale and blood-stained. His teeth were pointed, and his hands looked as if they had claws, which were digging furiously into the no longer struggling Abby. But, the worst part for the boys wasn't any of that, or his now yellow and black eyes. No, it was not any of that all._

_It was their sisters blood that coated his face and her intestines that hung loosely from his mouth. It was the way she stilled, and her screams went quiet. And, it was how he looked up at the two, and let out a ferocious snarl before lunging at them._

_Jake turned and shoved Alex away, forcing him into action as he, too, ran out of the woods. There was nothing he could do for Abby. She was /dead/. /DEAD/. And, it was all Jake's fault for allowing her to run off like that._

_It was always his fault. Always... Always..._

"Always... It's always my fault..."

"Jake!" The cry startled the just awakening teen, and his eyes slammed open, pupils almost completely swallowing the gray. His eyes focused after a second, and he saw bright blues staring eagerly at him, tears hanging at the edge of two bottom eyelids. "You're okay!" Two arms wrapped tightly around his neck, threatening to strangle the life from him.

"Boy, I doubt he wants ya to strangle him to death after that Smoker attack," an older voice chuckled, and Alex's grip immediately slackened. "Why don'tcha let me and Ro' take a look at him real quick before Nick and Ellis get back?"

"Okay, Coach," Alex replied chipperly, squeezing his brother one last time before revealing the two adults to him.

"Hey, there. I'm Coach, and this is Rochelle," A rather large African American man stated, pointing from himself to the much skinnier girl beside him. Both of them looked a little bit beat up, but overall well off compared to Alex and himself. The man wore a high school football coach shirt and some jeans, while the woman wore Depeche Mode tee shirt and some capris. They both wore gentle smiles that somewhat eased the anxiety that Jake was feeling.

"H-hi. Name's Jacob, but I prefer to be called Jake." He said softly, eyeing the two adults warily. "What are we doing here?"

Coach settled beside Jake and began looking at the bullet wound in his shoulder while Rochelle started to examine the bruises from the Smoker's tongue. "Nick and Ellis found you two down an old alley surrounded by the dead bodies of a whole horde apparently. They'll be back in a second so you can ask them about that then." Rochelle answered while gingerly rolling up Jake's shirt to get a better look at the discolored marks covering his body. "Gosh, that thing sure did get you good, didn't it, Jacob?" Her voice was sweet and gentle and easily distracted Jacob just long enough for her to prod a particularly painful bruise.

"Ow! Watch it! And, please, do NOT call me Jacob! It's Jake, 'Kay?" His voice was full of venom and contempt for the woman who continued to smile anyways, just brushing off his anger as if it were nothing.

"Ha! Sounds like we have ourselves another Nicolas ta deal with, Ro'!" Coach chuckled as he rolled up Jake's sleeve to expose the bullet wound.

And the now festering Smoker bite. It was rather swollen, and pus was dried up along with blood surrounding it.

"I told you guys that Nick reminded me of Jake! Except, I don't think Jake could gamble like Nick does." Alex chirped happily, smiling brightly at the glare his brother threw him. "And Jake isn't as nicely dressed."

"Should I be insulted?" Jake inquired before yelping and glaring at Coach this time.

"Boy, where did you get this bite?" Coach asked suspiciously, fearing for who bestowed it upon the young brunet.

"No where," Jake answered softly, swatting away Coach's hand and rolling his sleeve back over the injuries. "I'm fine, so if you guys would kindly point me and my brother towards the safe house near New Port? We are supposed to meet our parents there."

Coach and Rochelle stared at him for a moment before sharing an uneasy look with each other. "Jake," Rochelle began timidly. "We are at the New Port safe house, hun. Myself and the others have been holed up here for a few days now."

"Oh, so have you guys seen our parents? Did they come by and tell you to send us to the next one? That they'll wait for us there?" Jake's voice took on a rather childlike sound as he asked the two survivors those questions. His voice sounded hopeful, yet falsely so at the same time. He knew deep down what it really meant, but a part of him couldn't face the truth. He just couldn't handle anymore blame being placed on his shoulders.

"Jake, you two are the only other survivors we have seen in about a week." Rochelle attempted to say the truth without really saying it, but Jake refused to listen. "We haven't seen anyone since those other three about two days ago. Then, we came here and Nick and Ellis found you guys. we haven't moved because we were waiting for you to wake up."

Jake sat there silently for a moment as it all sunk in. His eyes acquired a distant look as he remained quiet, much to his brother's dismay. Alex could not remember a time when Jake had been this quiet since...

Well, since Abby.

Alex shuddered as he remembered the happenings from a week ago. He let his eyes settle on his brother for a moment longer before standing up and walking away. He could not just let all this get his mood down. He would not let it turn him pessimistic.

_"Jake," Alex panted as the two of them slammed the back door behind them. He watched as Jake just stood there, staring at the wall as their parents ran into the room. He watched as Jake ignored all of their questions, and as they dragged him and Jake away from the door the mutated Mister Johnson was nearing. They pulled them both into the basement as Alex continued to try and get Jake's attention._

_He was not successful._

_"Damn it, Jake! Snap out of it!" The ten year old hissed viciously, a loud smack resounding about the smelly old cellar. Alex breathed in heavy through gritted teeth as his steely blue gaze bore a hole into his brother's soul. "Get a grip on yourself-"_

_"Alexander! That is no way-"_

_"Shut up, Mom! Abby is /dead/! And, Jacob is just sitting there like a statue! I won't let him die, too!" Alex growled at his mother as he watched one of his brother's hands ghost over the red hand print left upon his face._

_"Alex," Jake whispered softly, his voice sounding detached. "Who... The hell do you think you are, saying stuff like that?" He demanded an answer from the smaller boy his eyes becoming the physical embodiment of rage as he glared down the blond._

A chipper redneck voice sliced through Alex's memory, pulling him back to reality with a call of, "Honey, I'm home!" He could hear Rochelle and Coach chuckling in response to this and a voice he knew as Nick grumbling about behaving like a little kid.

Alex turned back around and walked over to the other survivors with a smile on his face, "Hey, Ellis, Nick! Did you guys have a good trip?"

"Yeah, kiddo, if you call Ellis almost setting off a car alarm good." Nick grumbled as he ruffled Alex's hair, smirking down at the boy. "I heard your brother woke up; how was he?"

"Completely and totally hopeless," Alex groaned as Ellis came over and patted him on the back.

"S'okay, Alex. He's just in shock. I betcha that by the time we are all ready to leave he'll be right as rain."

Alex just nodded in agreement before looking at the other boy, a sad look upon his face. "He has only ever been this hopeless once before, when our sister, Abby, was killed by one of the Infected."

"Well, he'll be okay. Don'tcha worry," Ellis reassured before going to grab some of the groups rations to eat. The others took that as a queue to do the same, and all but Jake went and grabbed some of the canned or dehydrated food as well.

Alex tossed a glance Jake's way as he began to stick some beef jerky into his mouth. The boy's already sad gray eyes found a way to appear even sadder, and his bangs hung down before one of his eyes. He was leaned rather lazily against a wall, and his whole body was slack. Anyone who didn't know that he was indeed alive, or couldn't see his breathing, would have thought he was dead.

"Give the boy some time," Coach whispered as he walked up beside Alex. "He just found out. Not everyone can be as optimistic as you and Ellis."

Alex scoffed at that, "/Optimistic?/ I am anything but optimistic. I am not quite pessimistic, but definitely no optimistic. I just can't let it show around Jake; he would probably panic if I did." He shrugged indifferently, still looking at his brother with unreadable emotions clouding his eyes.

"Al, why don't you come play cards with me and Overalls?" Nick inquired from a table on the opposite side of the small safe 'house', absentmindedly shuffling cards while Ellis finished off a can of ravioli.

The young blond smiled, a beautiful sight in such tragic times. "So long as it isn't any of that 'strip poker' I heard you joking about last night." He chuckled at the flabbergasted look Ellis tossed at both him and Nick before going to sit at the table with them. "I am not that good at cards, that's Jake's forte."

"Sounds like a good kid," Nick replied with a smirk as he began dealing cards. "Learned the right skills early." Ellis could only reply with a roll of his eyes before they all heard a loud crash from behind.

"Jake!" Alex yelped, rushing towards the now frightened elder boy who was staring at the shattered mirror on the ground before him. His hand was tightly gripped around a single shard, and he was shaking vigorously. Alex quickly smacked the hand holding the shard, forcing it to relinquish the harmful object. Jake just continued to stand there, shaking as his wide eyes appeared more vacant than usual, ignoring his little brother and all the other survivors.

"What the fuck?" Coach yelled, startled by the boy's rather odd and sudden jolt of behaviors. "What is wrong with you, boy?"

Alex looked back at Coach as he simply pulled his brother into a tight embrace. "It's okay, Ja-"

"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" Jake growled suddenly, shoving his brother away and ultimately into the pile of shattered glass. His breaths came in heavy pants, and his teeth ground together in what appeared to be a painful manner. His eyes had an odd fierceness to it, one that just didn't seem like it belonged there.

"Now, listen here, Jake. Just calm down, okay? We don't need none of your yelling attracting the damn zombies and-" Coach began, but was interrupted rather fiercely.

"I WILL YELL IF I FUCKING WANT TO! LET THE DAMN ZOMBIES COME! I WANT THEM TO! THE SOONER WE ARE ALL DEAD, THE BETTER! WE ALL DESERVE TO DIE! WE ARE MURDERERS!" Jake cried at the elder man and the other three older survivors. His eyes were suddenly brimming with tears, and his jaw clenched almost as tight as his bloodied hands. "We all... We all just need to die... We're murderers... Murder-" His eyes rolled back in his head, just as his rambling faded into the black. He collapsed forward, into a rather shocked ten year old's grasp.

"J-Jake," Alex sobbed, his blue eyes filling with tears. Ellis and Rochelle both found their way to his side, trying to soothe him. Their words attempted to break through his semi-conscious mind, battering repeatedly against it until finally they thought they'd gotten through to him.

Alex slowly, rolled Jake off of him and into the grasp of Ellis, who then took the teen to Nick to look him over. Rochelle gave the young blond a caring smile as he let her arms pull him against her chest. Alex simply sat there for several moments, his thoughts whirling about in his young mind. Things he knew he very well should not have been thinking about kept popping up.

And the main thought that worried him was the one that kept saying he was a, "LITTLE BASTARD!"

* * *

><p><strong>I'm a very sad person sometimes. OH, and Mags said to tell anyone who reads this and How Far We've Come that she will be posting the next chapter sometime that is not today, but soon, because she hasn't finished editing it. She also said to blame me because as her sister and editor(never signed up for that job) I need to be more hard on her. Oh wells.<strong>

-Kevyn-


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